Man gets 25 to life for killing, dismembering mom

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles County man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the first-degree murder of his mother, whose dismembered remains were found in a freezer in their apartment.

Prosecutors tell City News Service that 21-year-old Moises Meraz-Espinoza was sentenced Wednesday for the 2011 killing of his 42-year-old mother Amelia Espinoza.

Judge Thomas McKnew Jr. told Meraz-Espinoza the killing was one of the "most disgusting, hideous, vulgar" cases he has ever come across.

Prosecutors say Meraz-Espinoza asphyxiated his mother, skinned her with knives and dismembered her with a saw. Her organs were never found.

He put bones including her skull with upside-down crosses carved in it in his backpack, and put the rest of her remains in the freezer.

He turned himself in two days later.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Man gets 25 to life for killing, dismembering mom

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A Los Angeles County man has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the first-degree murder of his mother, whose dismembered remains were found in a freezer in their